An Early Life Crisis of 90's Kids Around Me

Source: www.financialsamurai.com

A couple of days after Diwali, a friend called me to talk about his life which included quitting his job and not knowing what to do next. He needed help. And I said, tell me one person who doesn’t these days! The thing is what used to be known as a mid-life crisis has turned into an early life crisis. You do not need to have a steady job you dislike, and that may or may not pay well to feel in your mid-thirties, what's the point of this? You do not need experience to ask yourself, what am I doing with my life, or where is this all going? You do not need to be a grown up thirty something to realise that life doesn’t make any sense and the struggle to go on is way more difficult than imagined.

The thing with my generation, the 90’s kids, is that we are a generation of in-betweens. Not surprisingly, we are stuck between the generations that are divided between ‘do what you should do’ and ‘do whatever you want to do’. We are the generation that’s longing to become something it loves to be, and at the same time the thought of doing anything that’s necessary to survive doesn’t leave us. We aren’t the romantics. We aren’t the realists. We are not the generation that is lost in gadgets to think about anything. We are not the generation that’s lost in jobs to simply pay the bills. We are the ones struggling to turn our passion into startups, trying to get it for a price that pays our bills and buys us gadgets, helps us become financially independent, and we are being constantly disappointed for not getting the value of our work in this capitalist world simply because we are different. We are rushing into things, getting impatient with the process of numerous rounds to finally look at success, because somewhere we want to be the next person Buzzfeed, Scoopwhoop, and the likes of FilterCopy feature.

We want to break all the rules, and want it to work out amazingly well. We are the dreamers. We were told we can make a life for ourselves by doing what we want. We can change the way world thinks even when the chances are quite low. If we are best at what we do then nobody can stop it from happening. The next thing that’s wrong with our generation is that, we want to achieve high with least efforts. Or, to put it simply we have a limited vision when our thoughts are unlimited. For example, we want poetry to rule the world but the most we do is Slam Poetry events, where a hundred poets get their voices heard. Of course, people listen and encourage, but are we going to rule the world with our hobby, or make it another pawn in capitalism? Or do we really want to do something so huge that when the 22^nd century comes, it looks at 2017 and says, it was the time of Poets’ Revolution? No, we wouldn’t do that. We will spend a weekend in a club, we will recite and hear, and go back to our jobs on Monday morning, and whine.

We, as the generation of in-betweens, do not understand that change comes at an expense of luxury. Our parents didn’t want to change the world, they just wanted to earn a good living, have a family, and provide for the family. The generation after us will probably be okay with meaninglessness as long as they can drown themselves in a series of memes, tagging each other mindlessly. I mean no offence, I also do not want a #NotAll21stCenturyKids after this post. It is us, in our early twenties feeling the meaninglessness of life even before stepping into a job. Could it get worse?

We want to be revolutionaries, because the last time I checked doing what we love wasn’t quite traditional.We have to look beyond who gets featured in the next Scoopwhoop segment or what goes viral. Why? Internet is here to stay. Of course, but how many names do you remember of the people who inspired you in a Buzzfeed story? You read, you get inspired and tell yourself, I want to be that. No, you are not going to be that till you are sitting in front of your laptop, creating memes out of your meaningless existence. We, as a generation, have to get out of our comfort space, away from our laptops, do something worthwhile in the real world because we tried it the ‘online’ way and we feel meaningless anyway.

In an era of digital India, what other real world could I be talking about? Have you ever thought if not for a like/heart/haha/wow/upvote button, what would you have said about a photo or an article? Would you have made an effort to write a sensible comment or just scrolled down? What would you, the amazing person with dreams to change the world's outlook, do? Are you just a dreamer now, and will probably settle for the same old job you hate in a few years before it is too late? Or would you rather choose to struggle, so that if there is someone like you in the next generation, s/he wouldn't have to live in a world where poetry, writing, art, and the likes of marginal fields don't pay well? With those amazing ideas of yours, make an effort to go out and talk to people, start with friends from your office. And once you do, you are going to realise that maximum of the change that we as a society need, can come only from within. You can later use capitalism to build ways for you. 

Think, speak, argue and debate, retrospect, and think more. Let nothing convince you that there is a limit to your thought process. And when you do all that, change one idea at a time, will you still have the feeling of meaninglessness haunting you? Honestly,yes but you would know that like Sisyphus, you aren't merely doing what you have been punished to do, rather you will be doing what you want to do, and you'll believe that it is what needs to be done. And, don’t give me the look of ‘ideas don’t pay bills’. What do I know? I am as screwed as you, building a utopia in my head.

I am just saying, we have problems, and we need to find ways to fight the drowning sense of absurdity and hopelessness. I needed to write to fight my ghost of meaninglessness. I am not the fairy godmother who’s going to guide you, close the tab, and find your own way. Comment before leaving, if you may.